


It Just Happens

by aquatarius



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Death, F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Gore, Pale, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Sadstuck, Zombiestuck, pale eriroxy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 21:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4196190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquatarius/pseuds/aquatarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxy and Eridan are moirails in a world overrun with zombies. But, some things just happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Just Happens

“ _Dirk, stop fighting me! This is for the best!_ ”  
  “ _Jake! It’s over!”_  
  “ _I’m so sorry, Jane, I’m sorry, forgive me_.”  
   _BANG._   _BANG_.  _BANG_. 

  Roxy woke with a sob. She rolled out of her bed and stumbled out of her room, slamming into the one across the hall. She pounded and scratched at the door until it fell open, then stumbled across the floor and landed on the bed, sobbing and screaming.  
  “Rox, Rox, shhhh, shh, I got you, Rox, it’s okay, talk to me, please, Roxy, breath, shhh.” She felt cool hands on her face, pressing her cheeks and forehead, and wiping away her tears.   
  After a few moments, there was light, and someone else pressed a cup  up to her mouth. She gulped down the contents, ignoring the burn in her throat, and leaned into her moirail, letting him rock her.   
  “I-I wasn’t strong e-enough, I couldn’t save them, it’s all my fault, W-whyyy...” She sobbed out her words, her body shaking. “Eridan, why?”  
  “...I don’t know, Rox, I don’t know. We’ve all lost people we love. Fef, Kan, Kar. Dirk, Jane, Jake. Cro, Rose. Eq, Gam. It just happens. I’m so sorry. I love you.” He rocked her gently, shooshing her. It was a long time before she could fall asleep after that.  

 

  “One hell of a night, right?” Roxy said, smiling. She back leaned in her seat, and smiled across the table at Kankri and Porrim and Eridan. Eridan was looking at her, worry written across his face in a frown. Kankri and Porrim shared a look as Roxy drank from her glass.   
  “So, what happened again?” Porrim asked. Eridan took a breath.  
  “While you and your cohorts were running around with John and Dave, we lost Dirk, Jane, and Jake in one night. Cro went out looking for them, and Rox, when they went out on a raid. He came back with Rox, but...He’d been bitten.” Eridan said.   
  Roxy smiled as Porrim and Kankri both looked at her. Everyone knew Roxy and Cronus had been a thing.  Close to getting married, actually. She’d been the one to put him down. Eridan hadn’t been able to.   
  “After Rox took care of Cro, Kar and Kan and Fef went looking for you. They...Ahem. They didn’t make it back.” Eridan choked back a quiet sob and took a moment to gather himself. Roxy reached across the table and patted his arm.   
  “After that, Gam went out. He thought he could her Kurloz and Meulin. He came back, and...He commanded that Eq let him in. Nep took out Gam, but Eq is in the basement. We don’t know how to do it.” Eridan finished.   
  “I offered to-” Roxy was interrupted by Eridan reaching across the table and slapping her.  
  “You stop saying that. You can’t take care of it. You’ve killed your three best friends, and your boyfriend, and you can’t sleep, you drink all the time, you don’t eat, you, have, to st-top this.” He curled his arms around himself and sobbed again, dropping into his seat.   
  They were all snapping. Months of this living hell, of seeing friend after friend die. They were this close to loosing it. Eridan pushed his glasses up and continued.  
  “You killed your  _sister_ , Rox! And you’re sitting here smiling and trying to hold us all together and it has to stop, you have to take a step back, and, and-” He broke off for good this time, weeping and curling up in his seat. Jade came in, and her eyes widened in surprise. She tossed the gun she’d been using to hunt aside and dropped in front of Eridan, pulling him to the floor and smothering his hair and face in kisses.   
  Roxy looked at her glass and finished it, then stood up. Porrim and Kankri were silent, not even bothering to fight now. To tired, maybe. Roxy got herself another drink and sat down. She’d deal with Equius as soon as she’d had one more drink. 

 

  The moment Roxy came up from the basement, the entire room turned to look at her. Nepeta’s tail twitched, tears gathering in her eyes.  
  “You did it, didn’t you?” Eridan said. He didn’t move, staring at her. Roxy gave him a look. She felt a flash of anger, and gave a curt nod.   
  “Not like any of you cowards would do it.” She spat out, not noticing the anger in her own voice. She stepped forward, but reeled back when she felt a gun pressed to her temple.   
  It was Jade, her eyebrows drawn together, her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. Eridan was shaking, staring at Roxy, not stopping his wife from holding the gun to his best friend’s forehead.   
  Roxy’s gut dropped. Her insides went cold. It was like dropping off a cliff, and then suddenly she was dropping to her knees and vomiting on the ground. She looked at her arms and realized they were bloody. How had she not noticed that? When...When had it happened? When she was in the basement? Had she been in the basement? She couldn’t remember.   
  “Er-ri...” She looked up and reached for Eridan. He took a step foreward, then stumbled back in revulsion as she threw up again, tasting metal in her mouth. Like when she’d put a penny in her mouth, before all of this...  
 “Eri, Eridan, I’m scared.” She said, her voice sounding small to herself. She looked up, trembling. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”  Eridan shook his head, tears streaking down his face. Roxy’s voice went from scared child to panicked shriek in a moment. “What’s happening to me?!”  
  Eridan sobbed and stumbled backwards a few steps, shaking his head. Roxy tried to get up, but her arms gave out and she fell face first into her own vomit. She gagged as it went into her mouth, and choked as she inhaled a chunk of something rotten.   
  She managed to move an arm and grabbed the ground in front of her. If she could just get to Eridan, he’d take care of her, he’d wash her up and get her medicine. She looked up, her eyes full of hope, and Eridan grabbed Ahab’s, aiming it at her head. She thought for a moment that there must be something on her head and held still for him. Her lips stretched into a smile and she tried to say something, but t came out as a gurgling wheeze and she threw up a third time, something warm and sticky and chunky hanging to her lips and chin and neck. She rested her forehead on the ground, and wondered who had thought it would be a good idea to put a rug in this room. It was all squishy with something wet. Why was it squishy?  
  “Ugh, Eridan, we have got to clean up this rug. Do I smell pee?” She said, rolling her head to look up at her moirail. She gave him a lopsided smile, and felt a tooth coming loose. She spat it out and squinted at it before screaming in Russian: “Mommy! Daddy! Look! The tooth fairy must be visiting soon!”  
  Well, no wonder there was a carpet! She was in her home, with Rose and mom and dad, and they were so, so happy together. This must be the...the living room? Or the dinning room? She couldn’t remember. Oh, Eridan, was here too! She dug her fingers into the ground again and pulled herself a few inches closer to him, dragging herself through the wetness, feeling the slimy substance going down her shirt.   
  “Eridork, I don’t...feel so good. Can I have a bath?” She asked, resting her head on the ground for another moment.   
  “Sure, Rox. A nice hot bath, just like you like.” He said. He clicked the safety off of his gun and aimed it at her head, no longer sobbing.   
  Roxy looked up, and inhaled sharply. The smell of urine and vomit hit her nostrils and all at once she realized what was happening. She gave a sudden sob and tried to scramble up.  
  “No, no, no, no, no, no, I don’t want to die, no, not like this, please, no, don’t hurt me, I can’t die, I  _can’t_ , not after everything I’ve been through!” Roxy sobbed as she stood. She swayed and looked at them. Jade and Erida, Porrim and Kankri, Nepeta...She saw doubles and took a shaky step towards them. She tried to say something, but it only came out as a garbled moan.   
  “I, am so sorry, Rox. I love you.” Eridan looked away and shot the trigger. There was an awful sound, like someone squelching bone and flesh together. Eridan looked back at her and shrieked.   
  He’d hit half of her head, blowing away part of the skull, stripping away skin and leaving muscle and bone. She made another sound and took a step closer to him.   
  “Eri...Dan...Love...You...Bath...” Roxy said, only intelligible to the one who’d helped her through every drunken night, every nightmare, every bad hang over, ever single bad day since this hell had began. Eridan blubbered and shot, hitting her midsection, and then again, hitting her knee cap. She fell to the ground, and then lifted her bloody arms and began dragging herself closer.   
  “Stop! Just stop! Roxy, please! Stop, just, give in! Please!” He sobbed. He shot her again and again, trying to block out her moans and pleads and fighting words, trying to block out the fact that she was still trying to fight and get up. He wasn’t sure how many times he shot his moirail, but he knew that he was sitting there clicking the trigger for a good long while afterward. 

 

   “ _Roxy, please! Stop, just, give in!_ ”  
  BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG.

  Eridan awoke with an ungodly screech, and felt Jade squeeze him, pinning him to the bed.  
  “R-roxy, Rox, I’m so sorry, oh, g-g-” He broke into sobs, once more. Jade held him and shooshed him and kissed him and did everything she could to help, but she was his mate, his wife, not his Moirail.  
  “J-jade, I wasn’t strong enough, why wasn’t I strong enough to save her?” He asked, his voice breaking. Jade kissed his cheek, sniffling.  
  “Eridan, we’ve all lost people we love. Jane, Jake, Dirk, Rose, Cronus, Gamzee, Feferi, Kar, Kanaya, Equius, Roxy. It just happens. I’m so sorry. I love you.” 


End file.
